"It's tough, but we gotta remain focused and remember our mission to serve the public," said Gregory Simpkins, a TSA officer at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport and president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 778, at a protest Thursday in downtown Detroit.

President Donald Trump stalked out of his negotiating meeting with congressional leaders Wednesday — "I said bye-bye," he tweeted soon after — as efforts to end the 19-day partial federal government shutdown fell into deeper disarray over his demand for billions of dollars to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers now face lost paychecks Friday.

Crain's takes a look at some of the ripple effects reverberating through metro Detroit.

Air travel remains 'normal'

The partial federal government shutdown has not yet significantly affected air travel at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, officials said.

"Operations at Detroit Metropolitan Airport are normal at this time. As of now, we don't expect that to change," Erica Donerson, director of government and external affairs for the Wayne County Airport Authority that oversees Metro Airport, said via email.

Passenger security screenings are handled by federal Transportation Security Administration officers, who are among those federal employees who are required to work during the shutdown, but aren't being paid. They likely will be paid, but not until the shutdown is over.

A TSA spokesman declined to say what could occur with screenings if the shutdown stretches long-term.

"The officers are required to continue working as the lapse in funding continues, however, they will be paid once appropriations resume. I can't get into hypotheticals, but whatever happens, security effectiveness will remain paramount," said James Gregory, the TSA's deputy assistant administrator for public affairs.

Photo

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump speaks during an address on border security in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

Detroit Metro's website on Wednesday morning showed security wait times of 13 minutes at both terminals. The maximum wait time in standard screening at the airport on Tuesday was 17 minutes and 4 minutes in the precheck lines, according to Gregory.

The TSA processes about 2 million screenings daily, agency data shows, for nearly 26,000 domestic and international flights. It has more than 60,000 employees including more than 43,000 transportation security officers. TSA staffing numbers for Detroit Metro and Michigan's other large airports, Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids and Flint Bishop International Airport, were not disclosed.

There has been a spate of TSA officers calling off work at major airports during the shutdown — not necessarily in protest, but in some cases to earn money as the government shutdown drags on.

The agency isn't providing airport-specific data on absences but did say that the rate of unscheduled absences was 5 percent nationally on Tuesday, compared to 3.9 percent on the same day a year ago.

"We are not generally providing specific airport call-out information due to security concerns. This is because an adversary could potentially use that information to determine possible vulnerabilities," Gregory said.

Air-traffic controllers, who are Federal Aviation Administration employees, also continue to work.

"The traveling public can be assured that our nation's airspace system is safe. Air traffic controllers and the technicians who maintain the nation's airspace system continue to work without pay as they fill a critical mission to ensure the public's safety," FAA spokesman Gregory Martin said in a statement.

Detroit Metropolitan Airport served 34.7 million air travelers in 2017, and likely will match or exceed that number when 2018 data is crunched in coming weeks.

A message was left for the American Federation of Government Employees, which is the union for TSA staffers. AFGE, which represents 700,000 workers, is suing the federal government over the shutdown, alleging that it's illegal to require some federal employees to work without pay during a shutdown.

— Bill Shea

Medicare, hospital, physician payments won't be hit for a while

Because Medicare has been funded through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, hospital and physician payments are not expected to be directly affected for some time. Funds to pay Medicare claims come from a trust fund that is separate from regular appropriations.

A spokesman for the Michigan Health and Hospitals Association said there are concerns that people's access to food stamps might be a problem if the shutdown continues. Hunger is a social determinant to health and hospitals sometimes see patients in their emergency departments who are malnourished or have conditions exacerbated by poor diet.

Veterans Health Administration hospitals and clinics continue to operate and see patients regardless of the shutdown, said a VA spokesman at John D. Dingell VA Medical Center in Detroit.

Employees at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health also are unaffected. CDC tracks health outcomes and supports public health monitoring and infection control responses in conjunction with state and city health departments. The NIH, which consists of more than 20 separate institutes, funds billions of dollars in medical research at hospitals and universities.

However, only about 41 percent of the employees within the Food and Drug Administration were working because of the shutdown. More employees could be furloughed if there isn't a resolution to the problem. The FDA conducts food inspections and tests pharmaceutical drugs for safety and monitors clinical drug trials.

In Detroit, an FDA pharmaceutical testing lab was open but running at half speed because about 20 of the 40 employees have been furloughed, according to a Jan. 8 story by CNN.

Routine food inspections aren't getting done because of the partial government shutdown, but checks of the riskiest foods — cheese, infant formula and produce — are expected to resume next week, the FDA said Wednesday. The FDA doesn't oversee meat and poultry and those inspections by the Agriculture Department are continuing.

Scott Gottlieb, M.D., FDA commissioner, said in a tweet Wednesday that he is closely monitoring how the lapse in government funding is impacting the FDA.

The federal government said late Tuesday that it has identified funding to keep the Supplemental Nutrition Food Program, which provides food assistance to about 1.2 million low-income people each month in Michigan, operating through February.

That's good news, but operating dollars for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program — which provides monthly boxes of food for tens of thousands of senior citizens in the region — run out after this week. The government will continue to provide food for the senior meal program through February, but that won't cover administrative costs.

Thanks to a large warehouse on its Detroit campus, Focus: Hope has about two months of food stored for the 44,000 seniors it provides with a box of food each month.

That store can sustain the senior food program into mid-March, Focus: Hope President and CEO Portia Roberson said, and the nonprofit, which operates on a $32 million annual budget, has some general fund dollars to cover the $230,000 it takes to operate the program each month.

"Obviously, that could not go on for a year. ... the hope is we won't have to go for an extended period of time," Roberson said.

A more immediate concern: Federal employees who aren't being paid during the shutdown are likely to need food assistance. Gleaner's Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan is coordinating with United Way for Southeastern Michigan and 10 area pantries and food distribution sites to ensure those who need food while they wait for their next paycheck can get it.

There are an estimated 5,000-6,000 federal employees in the state, with the bulk of them in Southeast Michigan, according to reported estimates.

Those employees work for federal departments including the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Gleaners President and CEO Gerry Brisson said.

This is the first week federal workers will miss a paycheck, but most people live paycheck to paycheck, "so we can't have no response now," Brisson said.

Gleaners has begun packing 1,000 food boxes with staples such as spaghetti and spaghetti sauce to get federal employees over the hump, he said. The boxes will be available starting Monday at 10 pantries/food distribution sites in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston and Monroe counties.

Most people can make it for a week without a paycheck, he said, so "we think 1,000 boxes will be more than enough to get through the first wave," with distribution expanded as needed.

The first wave of boxes will cost Gleaners $23,000.

"We have operating cash for emergencies, about 60 days of operating cash in the bank just for this kind of thing," Brisson said.

"But there's no question if the emergency lasts a long time, we're going to have to go out and ask people to help us."

United Way has agreed to serve as a referral point, directing federal employees who call its 211 health and human services hotline to the nearest pantry for a food box.

United Way's 211 staff is prepared to offer that support, said Eric Davis, vice president of basic needs, health and outreach.

"The next couple of weeks I think we should be OK. But if it goes much larger than that, we're going to have some serious problems ... once the benefits start to diminish," Davis said.

Child nutrition programs such as Women, Infants and Children, and other food assistance programs will also see funding into February and March.

"SNAP is the biggest concern. It is the biggest federal food program. All of the other food programs combined don't do as much as SNAP," Brisson said. In Michigan, the program has more recipients than any other entitlement program offered, outside of Medicaid.

Beyond food assistance programs, federal housing and rental subsidies are being jeopardized by the shutdown, "putting people at risk of losing their place to live at the coldest time of the year," Gilda Jacobs, president and CEO of the Michigan League for Public Policy, said in an emailed statement.

— Sherri Welch

Quicken Loans taking shutdown 'day by day'

Bill Banfield, executive vice president of capital markets for Quicken Loans Inc., which services mortgages on behalf of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Administration and other entities, said Dan Gilbert's Detroit-based mortgage company is treating the shutdown as "a day by day event."

It has been waiving late fees for federal government workers, for example. However, when late fees start to "kick in" around the 15th of the month, Banfield said Quicken Loans expects to field more borrower calls to work out payment arrangements if the shutdown continues.

"Feb. 1 is a key date because if someone hasn't made a January payment they are technically delinquent," Banfield said.

Banfield said FHA- and VA-backed loan originations are expected to continue with "little to no" disruption, although federal government employees or contractors may experience delays getting a mortgage if their employment can't be verified due to the shutdown.

— Kirk Pinho

Breweries, wineries not toasting delays

Breweries, wineries and distilleries are experiencing delays — and taking a financial hit — because some permits are not being issued.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau issues permits that allow businesses to open, craft a new beer or wine, or create labeling for a product. That agency is currently closed. The bureau also is not approving beer label applications during the shutdown, which is impacting craft brewers in Michigan, said Joseph Infante, partner and head of the alcoholic beverage regulation practice at law firm Miller Canfield in Grand Rapids.

The labels, which list things including the alcohol content and Surgeon General's warning, are required for approval to ship across state lines.

And once the bureau reopens, there will likely be a backlog of permits to be processed, which has businesses owners worried, including Jeff Lemon, a partner at Lemon Creek Winery in Berrien Springs.

"They're already somewhat short-handed," Lemon said. "There's been a lot of new wineries and breweries, not just in Michigan but across the country. I think they've been pretty maxed out with their staff and this obviously is going to get them behind a little more."

— Dustin Walsh

Wayne County offers tax extension

Wayne County will allow federal workers affected by the government shutdown who live in Wayne County additional time to pay their delinquent property taxes.

Treasurer Eric R. Sabree said in a news release that since the Dec. 22 furlough of "nonessential" workers — some 5,000 of whom are in Michigan — his office had received calls and inquiries from workers who say they may not be able to make their scheduled payments.

"We work with people to assist them based on their individual circumstance," Sabree said in a news release. "There are a lot of people who are not getting paid, and they have absolutely no control over that until the shutdown issue is resolved."

Here's how workers can qualify for the extension:

Residents must be an owner-occupant

Residents must speak with one of the Wayne County Treasurer's Office staff members to fully determine if they qualify for the extension.

Residents must be federal employees affected by the government shutdown.

Residents must provide proper documentation if they are expecting federal benefits which are delayed due to the government shutdown.

Call (313) 224-5990, email[email protected] or visit the treasurer's office on the fifth floor of the International Center Building, 400 Monroe St.